Sheffield Wednesday: '˜The reality is I can't say we can win on Saturday' says Jos Luhukay
Disgruntled voices among Wednesdayites have grown in number following back-to-back error-strewn defeats for the Owls against Middlesbrough and Queens Park Rangers, which followed on from a promising run of form which saw them move into the Championship's top six.
At the pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to Birmingham City on Saturday, Luhukay was asked whether he believed there had been an over-reaction to the consecutive losses.
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Hide Ad"The reality is we don't have a team who can win every game in this league,' he said.
'When you can do that, you are the best team in the league.
"But also after the international break, I said it would be hard to stay in the play-offs.
"Every team can beat each other in this league.
"We are not in a fantastic moment but things can change.
"This team fights and works hard.
'We try to do our best to come to better results again.'
The area in which the Owls have come under the most scrutiny this season is defensively with costly errors made in both games over the past week.
Reflecting on the last two games, Luhukay admitted his side are giving away goals far too cheaply.
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Hide AdAnd he insists individual errors are to blame rather than systems.
"We had a comfortable situation before the international break,' he said. 'Everyone was positive
'Everyone was dreaming of the play-offs and the Premier League.
"Two games later, we have lost twice and we have a situation where we are not in a good position in the league.
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Hide Ad"We must fight to come back into a good position in the league. That is what we must do.
"Our intention was to stay in the play-offs but we have not defended well enough in the last two games.
"We must learn from the last two games and fight to get a better position in the league.'
"We must be better in the details,' he added.
'We have to be more consistent in the way we defend.
'We have given easy goals away '“Â it is had nothing to do with tactics or formation.Â
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Hide Ad"But we have the chance at Birmingham to change the things in a positive direction.'
The Wednesday boss is understandably eager to halt his side's run of defeats but admits that will be difficult against a Birmingham outfit that has not lost since August.
While pointing to the absence of attacking players such as Fernado Forestieri and Marco Matias due to injury, Luhukay refused to blame that for the disappointing recent form.
He said: 'There are no easy games in this league.
"We are a team who are at the moment have little problems but that is also no excuse for me.
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Hide Ad'I have been here 10 months and I have not spoken about our injured players.
'But the opportunities for our offensive players are not there at this moment so we must handle that.
"It is why when you have some injured players and you miss some quality, I don't give excuses but the reality is I can't say 'we must win or we can win' tomorrow.
"Birmingham are at home. We will give our best but there is not a guarantee we will win three points tomorrow.'